Posts tagged teachers’ unions
Teachers Unions Back School Funding Measures, Governor Candidates in Midterms
November 2, 2026 // Locals from New York to California are focusing on statewide races, while national union targets Senate seats in battleground states.
Teachers unions back school funding measures, governor candidates in midterms
October 30, 2026 // As the American Federation of Teachers finishes an election tour in battleground areas, many local affiliates’ biggest bets are on state ballots, including school funding measures and governor’s races. Both the AFT and the National Education Association have homed in on specific states for the midterms. The NEA and its state affiliate, the California Teachers Association, contributed a total of nearly $45 million to campaign for Proposition 3, a measure that would make a higher income tax rate for top earners permanent. The surcharge, which has funded billions for schools since 2012, would otherwise expire in 2031.
Unearthed filing shows largest teachers unions poured over $900 million into political activities
October 28, 2026 // According to an investigation by the North American Values Institute (NAVI), a nonprofit watchdog that tracks ideological activism in education, the National Education Association (NEA) spent at least $547 million on political activity and advocacy between fiscal years 2016 and 2025. That total includes $458.9 million filed officially as political activity and lobbying, along with an additional $88.2 million in direct funding to progressive advocacy organizations. To finance its political activities, "NEA delegates approved a $10 dues increase for a ballot-measure and media fund projected to generate more than $20 million annually," the report stated. With more than 3 million members, the NEA is the largest teachers' union in the country.
Kathy Hochul Chooses Kids Over the Teachers’ Union
October 16, 2026 // Though most eligible students remain enrolled in public schools, the unions spent months running ads and organizing rallies against the program. They are plainly terrified of giving families the financial power to make educational decisions for their kids. Parents already have this power in the more than 30 states that offer some state-run school choice program. Until now, parents in New York did not. Thanks to Hochul, New York families will for the first time be able to decide for themselves the best way to educate their children. Catholic, Jewish, and other religious schools stand to benefit as well. This is the first program New York has allowed that helps cover the tuition in religious schools.
What is New York hiding? How teachers unions are rigging school rankings
October 12, 2026 // Success Academy has now sued New York Education Commissioner Betty Rosa in federal court, arguing the state’s decision improperly prevents the charter network from communicating independently verified information about its students’ performance. But the controversy raises a broader question extending beyond one charter network or one magazine’s rankings: Why shouldn’t state residents have a right to see objective data about the schools their tax dollars are paying for?
Union boss’ school-choice betrayal reveals NY’s true power players
September 22, 2026 // American Federation of Teachers chief Randi Weingarten joined him on stage to condemn the plan, as another opponent decried the program as “a form of racism,” “segregation,” and something to “keep the have-nots in their place.” But Cilento’s participation in the attack amounts to nothing short of a betrayal: The NYC AFL-CIO represents more than 2,000 dues-paying members who teach at one of New York’s 100-plus unionized private or parochial schools. These are some of New York’s most devoted educators; many of them forgo higher-paying gigs in public schools.
Powerful teachers’ unions share striking link with states struggling to teach kids to read
September 19, 2026 // Eight of the ten states to score among the worst in the Progressive Policy Institute’s (PPI) assessment of early-literacy policies were home to powerful teachers' unions. Among the top 60% of states in terms of early-literacy policy scores, only four had strong teachers' unions. Mississippi, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, South Carolina and Indiana, all Republican leaning states with weak unions, were among the states with the best literacy outcomes. Maine, New York, Illinois, Hawaii, Washington and Rhode Island, blue states, were among the worst.
Blue states with strong teachers’ unions have lower student literacy levels: study shows
September 17, 2026 // And Canter’s study found one overwhelming and shocking throughline — the stronger the state’s teachers’ union the worse its student literacy scores were, results which did not exclusively follow party lines but strongly trended that way and often to the detriment of Democrats. “Democrats, however, don’t often ask me how to replicate Mississippi’s success,” Canter said. “They ask if it’s possible at all, given the power of teachers’ unions in their home states.” One reason for the disparity, Canter argued, is that states where teacher unions have a strong grip are slower to enact better programs.
Hochul accused of ‘hit job’ on behalf of teachers’ unions in act of ‘pure censorship’: labor group
September 15, 2026 // "This is an anti-speech law aimed at one kind of speaker," said Withe. He asserted that the New York law was "copied" from a similar measure in Oregon, which the Freedom Foundation is already challenging in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. He said his organization will "make the same case here." Fox News Digital spoke with Ryan Walters, former superintendent of Oklahoma public schools and CEO of Freedom Foundation’s education arm, the Teacher Freedom Alliance. Walters called the New York law an example of "pure censorship and targeting of political opponents by Democrats protecting their union bosses."
Opinion: National Teacher Union is Fighting Teachers … to Prevent Unionization
August 30, 2026 // In 2025, a group of teachers in Montpelier, Ohio, decided it was time to move on from our affiliation with the Ohio Education Association (OEA) and the National Education Association (NEA). A super-majority of the more than 70 teachers in our bargaining unit signed a petition requesting to hold a vote that could replace the OEA with a new, independent, local union: the Association of Montpelier Educators. We filed our petition for a representation election on April 8, 2026. That election should have happened by now. Instead, the OEA and NEA — national unions that bill themselves as champions of unions and defenders of teachers’ voices — are fighting our effort to form our own local union and give us back our voice.